HCV protease (also known as NS3) is a promising target of
intervention for the treatment of hepatitis C infection. However,
medicines currently in late stages of clinical development are
vulnerable to drug-resistant mutations. AVL-192 is a novel, orally
available compound that can rapidly and completely silence the HCV
protease through highly selective, irreversible covalent bonding to
the target protein. Preclinical data have demonstrated that AVL-192
achieves very high potency and selectivity for NS3 and also
potently and effectively inhibits the drug-resistant mutations
observed clinically.

Avila's covalent approach to silencing the NS3 protein has
resulted in a product candidate with a potential best-in-class
profile due to the ability to retain potency against
clinically-arising resistance mutations, and potential breadth of
activity across HCV genotypes with anticipated once-per-day
dosing.

In a poster presentation at the meeting, entitled,
“Second Generation of Covalent Irreversible Inhibitors
Have Superior Potency Across Genotypes and Drug Resistant
Mutants,” data were presented from preclinical studies
that evaluated the efficacy of AVL-192 in biochemical and cell
culture studies. Highlights of the data demonstrate:

AVL-192 has a time-dependent mode of
action that delivers potent and rapid inhibition of WT NS3/4A and
retains high potency against drug-resistant mutant NS3/4A
proteases;

AVL-192 is able to inhibit the protease
long after the compound is removed, offering the benefit of less
frequent dosing;

AVL-192 as monotherapy can be curative
in the replicon clearance assay;

AVL-192 is highly selective and spares
host proteases; and

AVL-192 has high plasma exposure
following oral administration in rats and dogs.

“These new data reinforce our belief that our targeted
covalent drug candidate AVL-192 has the potential to be a
best-in-class, pan-genotype HCV therapeutic due to its unique
mechanism of action,” said Juswinder Singh, Ph.D., Avila's
Founder and Chief Scientific Officer.

About Avila Therapeutics™, Inc.

Avila focuses on design and development of targeted covalent
drugs to achieve best-in-class outcomes that cannot be achieved
through traditional chemistries. This approach is called
“protein silencing”. The company's product pipeline has
been built using its proprietary Avilomics™ platform and is
currently focused on viral infection, cancer and autoimmune
disease. Avila is funded by leading venture capital firms:
Abingworth, Advent Venture Partners, Atlas Venture, Novartis Option
Fund, and Polaris Venture Partners. For additional information,
please visit
http://www.avilatx.com.

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